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DIY Woodsy Decorative Letter
A continuation of the letter decorations for my roommates and I. This one is for my roommate, Lauren, and has a rustic, woodsy vibe.
While I used "L" for Lauren's name, this design could work for the following letters:
B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, N, R, T, U, V.
This design can work for many different letters, you just may add more trees or paw prints in the empty spaces.
Let's get started!
Supplies:
Wooden letter of your choice
Paints in green, browns, black and a white (I used: Holiday Green, Black, Cinnamon Brown, Golden Brown, Flesh and Light Antique White).
Paintbrushes
Plaid duct tape (whatever color you prefer)
a straight edge
(Twine is pictured below, but I decided not to use it. If you'd like you could add it as a bow around the duct tape, using hot glue).
(Flesh and Light Antique White paints not pictured)
1. The first step is to figure out where you want the duct tape to go and how wide you want it. Because of how small my letter is, I decided to not use the whole width of my tape and cut it to fit the size I drew on the letter.
I did this step first so it would help me not to go over the lines when painting the wood and doing the trees. You could add the duct tape strip after painting, if you'd like.
2. Next, I painted a base coat for the wooden bottom. I used the color Cinnamon Brown for this. You want a dark brown, but not too dark that it's almost black, because of what you'll do with the wood shading and the trunks of the trees later.
3. This is the second coat of the Cinnamon Brown. It looks much richer now and is a good base for the wood.
When painting this, because it's on a wooden letter, be sure the strokes of your paint with the paintbrush go in the direction you want the wooden panels to go. For me this was horizontally. But depending on the letter you've chosen, the panels could go vertically or diagonally.
4. Next was dry brushing. I picked the paint color, Flesh (I know, weird name). You'll want to use a pretty light color for this to give it a nice rustic look.
To dry brush, don't wet your paintbrush at all. Dip it in the paint, practice a few strokes to wipe of the excess, and only use the flags/tips of the brush and drag it across the letter. Drag the paintbrush in whichever direction your wooden panels will lie.
Be sure to be light and don't press down too hard when dry brushing.
5. I did my own version of a wet blend to kind of mask the harshness of some of the dry brushing.
I used the Golden Brown paint for this. I dipped my paintbrush in water, then in the paint, then in the water again. Practiced a few strokes, and then just wiped it onto the wooden letter.
It gives kind of a musty look and blends the dry brushing in with the other brown very well.
Again, stroke the paintbrush in the direction of your wooden panels.
6. Bob Ross Evergreen Trees!!
Make sure to use a fan brush and you can make the trees as big or as small as you want. And however many you'd like. I only went with two, one bigger and another smaller. Be sure to leave some room for the tree trunk.
The color I used was a blend of the Holiday Green and a dot of black to get a nice dark green (a paint color I didn't have).
I used this video to help teach me a bit of what to do from Bob Ross himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HvdsIkY9mY
7. Now to add some tree trunks!
I blended the Cinnamon Brown with a dot of black paint to make a rather dark brown, almost black color.
The brush I used is pictured and gives a good fine line that can turn into a thicker bottom for the trunk.
8. Lining the panels!
I used the same dark brown as the tree trunks, but you could also just use black, but I had some leftover from the mixing for the trunks.
Use your straight edge and draw the lines of the boards. They do not need to be perfect lines that are all the same width because wood is imperfect. And the widths of the boards don't need to be the same either, just almost the same.
9. Now to shadow!
Use the same color as the lining of the boards. Go around the edges and make them very uneven but look decent. Use the tips of the brush to swipe it into the board for a nice look.
10. Now adding a bit of highlight.
I used Light Antique White and a very fine brush. Dip your brush lightly in the paint, wipe off some excess and just do very light dabs across the top part of the boards, right above the lining.
This is to represent the sunlight hitting the boards.
Don't make them fat lines or connected. Just some little dewdrops of sunshine!
11. Now for the finishing touch!
Add a paw print in the empty space, wherever that may be on your letter.
You could add a bear print, or fox print, or any other animal print you'd like.
I went with a simple dog-like paw print, because Lauren loves dogs.
This ties up all the woodsy vibes and is a very cute touch.
And you're done! Enjoy your decorative letter!